In the manufacture of semiconductor materials, and electronic devices, products, and memory articles, a wide variety of chemical compounds are employed. In such processes, effluent gases may be produced, some of which may be flammable. For example, flammable or pyrophoric gases such as hydrogen gas and/or silane gas may be produced as effluent gases. As such, it may be generally desirable to treat these effluent gases, such as by passing them through an appropriate abatement unit.
Conventional effluent abatement systems typically include thermal reactors which may remove waste effluent components at decomposition removal efficiencies of greater than 95%, for example. In the case of flammable or pyrophoric effluent gases, such as hydrogen gas and silane gas, the effluent gases themselves may be used as the fuel for the abatement unit. When combined with an oxidant, the flammable or pyrophoric effluent gases may be appropriately ignited and combusted.
As thermal abatement systems have developed, so has the desirability for developing safety systems to enable safe operation of such abatement systems and to reduce or eliminate possible explosion risks. This is especially true for systems where the process effluent gas is highly flammable or pyrophoric.
Accordingly, methods and apparatus for increasing the safety for such effluent treatment systems are desired.